An Early Look At WI’s Gov Race with Dan Shafer (Hour 1)

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From the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Thank you very much, and that's the nicest thing that anyone's ever done for me.

It sounds a bit bizarre, but things the way they are.

I'll feel as if another life's begun for me.

And if I had a pen and I would fire it, to add a sort of celebration touch.

Of course Wisconsin

on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Todd Alba, along with Mr. Aaron Zommers, our producer and engineer.

It is Thursday, the 21st of August, 2025.

It is a particularly great day to be a Wisconsinite.

Welcome in, everyone.

Glad to have you along here.

Beautiful, partly sunny skies at the old World Headquarters in downtown Madison.

Zommers, how the heck are you?

Doing pretty well, but it seems like you're doing very well.

Well, I'm doing very well indeed Thank you so very much for asking First and foremost doing well because right now the top now we're going to the bottom of the third down at Wrigley Field in Chicago The Brewers are up on the Cubs to nothing They took I was a tough loss last night for the brew crew But they are back on track up to nothing now going to the bottom of the third down in Wrigley

Many of ours are at least some of our stations here across the civic media ready to work are carrying that game over terrestrial radio.

And the app carries our show because we can't can't aren't allowed to stream the Brewer games for contractual reasons, as they say.

Well, so we'll keep track of that game.

Also, I'm in a good mood summers because Dan Schaefer.

Our political editor here at Civic Media, the founder of the Reconbibulation Area, been a minute since he's been on, but he'll be in talking George Webb hamburgers and the brewers for he stood in line.

He got his burger.

So we'll ask Schaefer how that was.

And also he's doing an online poll right now for the Democratic nomination for governor.

We'll talk to him about that.

He has a great article at the Reconbibulation Area on the all too early breakdown for the 2026 race.

for Wisconsin governor and we'll ask him about anything else he wants to talk about.

You never run out of things to talk about with Dan Schaefer.

It's

because he pays

attention to a lot of things and he's always thinking.

He's never so poor he can't pay attention to that Dan Schaefer.

He is rich with knowledge.

And in hour two we got what's worse for you, dealing with Bretter Water.

No, close, but we'll tell you about that.

No, lots to get to.

Associated Press, Wisconsin court commissioner resigning after a dispute over an immigration warrant.

We'll talk to you about that.

Also, do you care about window seats?

What do you fly, Zomers?

Are you a window seat kind of guy?

Well, I've only been on like two flights, so I don't really have an opinion on that.

United Delta Airlines are being sued for selling windowless window seats.

We'll discuss that a little bit.

Also, people get to this with Schaefer.

political reporting that the Democratic National Committee is having money problems after my least favorite Martin is in control.

So we'll discuss that.

Pardon me.

I'm a little hoarse.

And also, this is very big news later in the show.

Donald Trump is coming out tonight, which apparently is no surprise to Melania, but it's true.

Trump is coming out tonight and we will discuss all that.

Much much more but first heading the news and normally I would not talk in celebratory terms about the passing of someone Because it's a little uncouth as they say but once in a while once in a while.

I think the world is probably better off Because certain ideas are no longer around So a headline here just breaking over the last half an hour or so this this is from the Daily Beast

Trump's hardline right evangelical leader James Dobson dead at 89.

Now let me preface this by saying we were just up and by the way many thanks to the great folks up at WFHR in Wisconsin Rapids who put on the dog for us as they say rolled out the red carpet many thanks everybody's so nice up there there's so there's so

happy and appreciative and nice and they could not have been better hosts and we thank him so very much and better teammates, better colleagues, all the people that stopped by, the town's folks and people of the greater Wisconsin Rapids area was fantastic as well.

And what struck me, we talked about this yesterday, is you had a VFW table there of our great veterans giving out flags for a donation and also next to it you had an ecumenical

church table of different faiths.

And pastors were there to just talk, you know, round in terms about faith and their churches.

And one of the pastors had a basically acceptance pride shirt that said everyone is loved.

And those are the kind of churches I think do a lot of good in our communities all across Wisconsin.

Lutherans, Catholics, Methodists, Wesleyan that are accepting.

They talk about...

Christianity in terms of Christ's example of loving everyone and accepting everyone and giving hope Those are those are wonderful things in my opinion This guy is not that all right And maybe I'll confess to a little shot in Freud a year James Dobson the child psychologist and radio pre did you know he was a radio personality had a big radio following

Yeah, which makes sense given one of the companies he founded

radio person who advocated for conservative social values and welded immense political power has died at 89 Dobson who first gained prominence with his 1970 book dare to discipline which advocated for teaching children quote unquote self-control with corporal punishment

He leveraged his resulting notoriety into founding the evangelical organization Focus on the Family.

As a key architect of the religious right, he also co-founded the Family Research Council, an organization designed as an anti-LGBTQ plus hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

for propagating propaganda, linking homosexuality to pedophilia, and claiming the Democratic Party is run by quote-unquote Jews.

Dobson later became ingrained in the upper echelon of the Republican Party and advised five different presidents, culminating in a role on President Donald Trump's Evangelical Executive Advisory Board, where he helped solidify the fusion.

of white evangelicalism and far-right politics.

Quote, Dobson has become the primary source of misinformation about gay and lesbian people in the world, unquote, said gay pastor Mel White in 2005.

Quote, he is single-handedly doing more damage to the truth than anyone else, in our opinion, unquote.

Again,

Don't normally celebrate someone's passing.

But this guy is our friend that Flynn would say he's bad news.

He was bad news, right?

And I think the most disturbing thing to me about this guy is he was fine with perpetuating absolute lies about folks like me who happen to be gay.

And I have no doubt that this guy is single-handedly responsible for multiple death by suicide of young people around the world.

Because he made them feel that the way that you were created is wrong and that there's something wrong with you and you're evil and God doesn't love you.

And I think that's despicable.

And I think it's really unfortunate that this guy had a platform for all those years.

And the sad thing is he monetized it and he lived high in the hog.

And it's really, really unfortunate when there are so many churches and institutions of faith in this state and this country who do enormous amounts of good in this country and in the state who are raising money for their neighbors.

who are providing meals for the poor, who are giving homes here just down the street at the church up here in the corner.

They have a men's homeless shelter, who are doing all kinds of great true Christian work.

And then you got a Yahoo!

Like this Dobson guy that comes along and just bastardizes the faith and makes it into something that if you actually read the Bible, it's completely different than what this guy is talking about and did an enormous amount of harm's honors.

Yeah, I think if you are a person who spends all of your time trying to drag other people down, you should really take a hard look at that and think about why all of your time that you could be being happy or doing good things, even for yourself or others, that you're just spending dragging other people down.

And maybe if you think about that, you won't have people celebrating your death.

There's that.

You know, I think there are just unfortunately, I mean, we know it, right?

And I'm not trying to pick on the faith community here.

It doesn't matter whether it's radio personalities or teachers or farmers or grocery store owners or military people, any vocation, any vocation, you're always gonna have a couple of bad apples, gonna have a couple of bad actors that are not doing well.

And it's unfortunate when you get to your point, Summers, when there are people in this world

who literally get their glee from making other people feel like crap and who to their face inches from their nose yell at them and you can feel the spit hit your face and they yell at you and tell you what a piece of trash you are and how you'll never amount to anything and that they're going to be happy when you fail.

There are people in the world that are like that.

So you know You want it as you go through life somers you wonder to yourself because you knew you'll get away from those people if you're lucky But in the back of your head you're like is he dead yet?

And then someday the answer

is yes, yes, he's actually dead So I'm

Yes, I'm a little giddy today, because I think that when these very few people in the world pass, look, the world's a better place.

The overall level of happiness in the world has raised a little bit today.

It certainly did for me.

Anyway, James Dobson dead at the age of 89.

And it's just a good reminder it comes to all of us.

I think people try to cheat death, right?

Try to get around death.

It's gonna come to all of us.

The question is, are we personally prepared for that?

Whichever whatever that means to each and every one of us as individuals on a particular journey.

So, you know, just be nice to people.

I think that's a good reminder, don't you?

I

absolutely, I would like to be remembered as somebody who was kind and helpful, at least to some degree, you know.

That's a great point, Zomber.

I mean, don't all of us, I'll say as we get older, at least for me, you start thinking about, well, how are people gonna remember me, right?

I mean, are people, when they hear about my death, are they gonna phone each other and say, he is dead and be giddy about it?

Or are they gonna be like, oh, that's too bad, Todd passed away.

In my case, it might be a little bit of both, I don't know.

Well, maybe Mr. Dobson didn't care about that and he just wanted to sit on the biggest pile of cash he could while he was still around and make other people feel like

crap.

As they say,

Yeah, can't take it with you.

James Dobson dead at the age of 89.

All right, enough of that.

Well, welcome back.

Give you a Brewer's update and also maybe we'll start talking about this story of the Associated Press.

The Trump policies of hard line on the courts have reached Wisconsin again.

We'll tell you about it.

Don't go anywhere.

It's the title ball show on the civic media radio network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email

to get started.

If you ever get a chance, of course, that is from the original Wizard of Oz.

Same storyline, you know?

Yeah, absolutely.

It all happens in Oz.

Great lineup of Broadway shows.

If you get into Madison or if you're listening to us on WMDX, check it out, Overture Center.

I believe it's .com, maybe it's .org, but Overture Center, a great line of a Broadway show.

Speaking of, we're going to be down to the street tonight, later on, Zombers.

If you want to come down and say, hi, I have the later shift, but...

the night market, the Madison night market tonight from five until nine.

So stop on down and see us at the WMDX set.

John and Gordy are great friends.

John and Gordy and Dom, the Italian stallion is going to be there as well.

That he will.

I will not

dominically.

Yeah.

I won't be there because having a game night with some friends, the last one before one of them is about to give birth.

So I don't feel like missing that.

No.

And also a shout out to my longtime friend one of my former trainers Joe Dale Birkeland Celebrating a birthday today out there in beautiful Fort Collins, Colorado So happy birthday Joe.

Hope he's having a great time out there.

Shout out to he and his lovely wife Rachel in Fort Collins, Colorado listening in out there on the old civic media app.

So happy birthday Joe

Great, great guy.

My niece, when she was little, used to call him Pizza Hut, but it's a whole other whole of the story.

Anyway, coming up to the bottom of the hour, just thereafter, Dan Schaefer is going to help us recapobulate on Wisconsin politics, talk a little gubernatorial race, going to talk about little brewers and George Webb hamburgers.

By the way, the brewers right now still out in front of the Cubs.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Brewers two, the Cubs zero.

We'll keep track of that in that game across the air on some of our civic media stations over the radio station.

This from the Associated Press.

An important story.

Headline Wisconsin court commissioner resigns after a dispute.

over an immigration warrant.

This is an unfortunate story.

It's a sad story, but an important story because too often we hear about these things happening in Washington, DC, and we think, well, how the heck is it going to affect us here in Wisconsin?

Well, here is just another example of what happens.

Headline or the Dateline Madison Associated Press, a Wisconsin court commissioner has resigned from his job after he asked to see an immigration arrest warrant.

The latest conflict between judges and President Donald Trump's administration of the Republicans sweeping immigration crackdown.

Peter Davis, pardon me, Peter Nafis, and a VIS, Nafis, who worked as a Walworth County Court Commissioner for four years, resigned from his position last month.

County Clerk Michelle Jacobs said today,

She declined to comment further because it's a personnel matter.

The incident that cost Nafis' job happened on July 15th.

It was first reported on Thursday today by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The blow-up in Nafis' courtroom comes after Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested and charged in May with obstructing federal officers and attempting to hide a person to avoid arrest.

Authorities said Dugan tried to help a man who it was in the country illegally to evade US immigration agents who wanted to arrest him in her courthouse.

Dugan is seeking to have the charges against her dropped, arguing that she was acting in her official capacity as judge and therefore is immune from prosecution.

A ruling on that motion by US Judge Lynn Edelman is pending.

Now, NAFIS

was presiding in his courtroom that day in the case of Enrique Onan.

Enrique Onan Zamora Castro in Milwaukee.

Now this guy was facing a misdemeanor charge of operating a vehicle without a valid driver's license for the second time in three years.

A court transcript

shows that Judge Nefis objected to sheriff's deputies attempting to detain Castro on behalf of U.S.

Immigration and Custom Enforcement, or ICE for short.

Without, let me say that again, without a valid federal warrant.

Quote, in my courtroom, a person cannot be detained without lawful authority.

Unquote, Nefis said in the transcript.

The prosecutor, assisted district attorney Andrew Herman, said NAFIS had no right to see the warrant, according to the transcript.

Herman did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment.

Let me step away from the story.

First of all, anybody, I'm no Maggie Dawn, I'm no Matt Flynn, I'm no Jim Santel, attorneys all.

But I've worked with the law firm enough to know

that in a courtroom, the judge pretty much has the say.

And for an assistant DA to tell a judge, you don't have the right to see a warrant?

I mean, is this Andrew Herman due to drugs?

No wonder he didn't respond to a voicemail from the Associated Press and the Journal Sentinel.

Back to the story in the AP, according to the transcript, APHIS said, quote, I've been instructed by the judges of this county

to require warrants before individuals are detained in my courtroom."

None of the four Walworth County judges returned emails seeking comment.

Walworth County Clerk of Court Michelle Jacobs said deputies routinely arrest people on warrants in the courthouse.

Walworth County Sheriff Dave Gerber said ICE officials did not respond to email messages seeking comment.

Walworth County is home to about a hundred thousand people in South Central Wisconsin along the Illinois border The last Dan Schaefer here to commit it or two what he thinks about this But again if it and this guy is resigned This judge is resigned County Commissioner.

I guess I should say Court Commissioner Because of the pressure put on by the Trump administration for the audacity of asking for a warrant for

to see a warrant for somebody's arrest, you know, following the Constitution.

We're going to come on back, farm news of Pam Yankee next.

Don't go anywhere.

And then we're going to re-combobulate with Dan Schaefer.

What was it like getting a George Webb burger?

You're going to find out on the other side, on the civic media.

There is a fifth dimension.

beyond that which is known to man.

Milwaukee's best.

It's a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity.

Hey man, what about Milwaukee, man?

It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition.

I think God would want us to go to Milwaukee.

And it lies between the pit of a man's fears and the summit of his knowledge.

Think about Milwaukee.

This is the dimension of imagination.

You are now entering

The Recombobulation Area.

Welcome back to the show.

The town hall will show the Civic Media Radio Network.

35 minutes now, past the hour of two o'clock.

That intro can only mean one friend.

On the other side of it is our friend, our colleague, the political editor of Civic Media and the founder of the aforementioned Recombobulation Area.

One Dan Schaefer, Dan Howe, the heck are you?

I'm doing great, Todd.

It's always wonderful to join you here on the Todd Alba show.

And I love that intro and you added a little extra to it, didn't you?

The Zomerans are spiced it up, updated it because the Indigo Girls gave you a shout out.

That's right.

Shout out from the Indigo Girls in Milwaukee.

Mentioned the Reconpopulation area on stage the other night.

I had a couple people tweet me the video, so that was pretty fun.

I thought that was great.

I mean, you're big time Dan Schafer, so good for you.

The brand is strong, Todd.

The brand is strong.

It is honestly good as one of the best branding things I've ever heard of.

If I got everything else wrong in this whole project, I know I got the name right.

Right,

exactly.

That'll be got many things right.

A reminder, you can find all of Dan's work and others as well at www.therecobobulationarea.news.

the recapabulationarea.news.

You can find all the work.

If you're not a subscriber, what the heck's wrong with you?

Because when you subscribe, you get the biggest insights, the first to know the news and the great writing of Dan Schaefer and his staff there.

Let's get into it, Dan Schaefer.

A lot going on.

You've got, I'm not sure if you've heard before, he came on the air, but according to the Associated Press and the Walkies, you're all sentinel now.

Another court commissioner now has resigned in Walworth County because he had the audacity to ask for a warrant for a constitutional thing.

You've got a governor's race.

Now we've got somebody jumping in for the lieutenant governor already.

Dan Schaefer, very discombobulating.

Discombobulating times, Todd, but we're here to, uh, here to make sense of it all as best we can.

That's great.

Uh, let's start with this before we get into the actual news, uh, in the top of the fifth inning on some of our civic media stations that carry the brewers radio network brewers up on the cubbies to nothing top of the fifth.

And Dan Schaefer, you had on your socials, you partook of the George Webb hamburger experience.

Tell us all about it.

That's right like the proud Milwaukee in that I am I I made my way to George webs to get myself a free hamburger yesterday So I went to the I live on the west side of Milwaukee So

the

closest one to me is in West Alice downtown West Alice on Greenfield Avenue between 72nd and 73rd So I was you know bit busy working yesterday afternoon, but I got there at about 4 4 30 or so And the line was still you know that the promotion started about 2 p.m.

Even when I got there the line was

stretching just about the full city block there in West Alice, which was cool to see a lot of people very excited to to go get their free hamburger at George Webb's mark the occasion.

You know, I think it is less about the actual meal itself than just being there and being part of the being part of the history that is the you know, what turned out to be a 14 game winning streak for the Milwaukee Brewers and you know, passing the 12 game winning streak prediction from

George webs and so made it through the line pretty quick got through the

you know, the folks working there were busy, but they said it's been good.

People being respectful, people leaving tips for the, for the wait staff there, which I would like to see as a former, former waiter myself, former server myself, always want to see, always got to, you know, always got to take care of the people taking care of you.

And I made it through and enjoyed my hamburger while talking to some of the folks there about their experiences.

And you know what, that burger.

Tastes like victory.

And for people that might not have grown up in Milwaukee, explain this briefly about this.

This all started from the founder of George Webb, right?

Yeah, he made this promotion saying that George Webb predicts that the Milwaukee Brewers will win 12 games in a row and when they win 12 games in a row George webs gives everybody in town a free burger So I've seen a couple of the numbers tossed around For how many free burgers were given out?

I think it was like well over 150,000 burgers or something like that given out about 20 some locations around the Milwaukee area For George webs now.

I know their their numbers are down from where what maybe their heyday, but it's still

you know, a little greasy spoon diner.

I enjoy some George Webbs from time to time as well.

And it was just a great community celebration.

great community event way to bring people together.

It's a long baseball season, right?

So

we got 162 games.

You need a couple of goofy things along the way, whether it's a pocket pancake from Pat Murphy or a winning streak to get a free hamburger.

It's good to have goofy stuff like that in the baseball season.

And these brewers have brought a lot of joy to the city this year.

And it was great to experience that joy with a lot of fellow brewers fans.

in Milwaukee yesterday.

100% and I believe it was only a third time because this happened when the Braves were still in town, or they had the prediction, but it didn't actually happen until 87, which I'm old enough to remember whether it happened.

And it was the same year Juan Nieves got no hitter.

And so they did it in 87, and then they did it, what, in 18 during the playoffs and now this year.

Yeah, 18 was the way, you know, it was like the streak stretched from the regular season into the playoffs.

They had that crazy run at the end of the 2018 season.

So I was able to get my burger then.

I don't remember if I got it in 87.

I was, you know, I was a two-year-old

in Milwaukee

at the time,

so I

don't remember.

But they probably did.

I mean, my family is a...

a bunch of huge brewers fans.

So I imagine they did get the free burger that day.

But but yeah, you know, just a just a great way to bring walkings together.

Very quickly, Dan, because I know you're 100 percent right because I think Milwaukee needs a positive.

I don't even want to call it a distraction, but some positive vibes because folks down in Southeast Wisconsin have gotten hit really hard by this flooding.

Was your family personally hit by this?

No, we were lucky.

You know, we we happen to live on a hill.

So, you know,

right down the hill from us is the Menominee River, which I think was one of the places that got hit hardest.

But the flooding, I think some people saw a lot of the video.

I went down to take some in Wauwatosa Village right in their little downtown area.

They've got a bridge that goes right over the river there.

And there's a ton of debris and mess all over

the

place.

And the rivers are still at higher levels, even a week and a half or so later.

But so many people really get hit hard.

flooding.

And I think the latest reports that I saw was that there are people from FEMA in Milwaukee today assessing the damage, hoping that we get some federal declaration.

I forget the exact terminology of what exactly people are looking for, but just some additional federal assistance that could come to people because I think the damages estimate is now I think north of 30 million County Executive David Crowley said earlier this week, and most of the damage that people are reporting to the 211.

damage.

It kind of like an emergency administration center in the county.

You know, I think most of the people assessing this damage have said that like some homes are a total loss there.

You know, it's just there's there's a tremendous amount of damage.

So hopefully we do get that federal declaration after the visit today.

We're talking with Civic Media political editor and founder of the Reconpopulation area Dan Schaefer.

Dan, some quick audio here.

This is a courtesy of AJ Biaport at CBS 58 in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson talking about something that a lot of

people just don't understand if you're not from Wisconsin and that's the importance of basements in this state.

Depending on where you are in the country like you have to think about what the impacts are of these natural sort of disasters are for us in Wisconsin and Milwaukee in particular like.

Basements being washed out we live in our basements right that there are additional living spaces in this city and in this state And so the effects are different so it's I'd encourage FEMA to make sure that they don't just drive down the street and see where

Department of Public Works is clear debris, but actually check out those places like those basements that have been affected, because that means people have lost some valuable living space.

And on top of that, they lost some items of sentimental value that they'll never be able to recover.

Milwaukee Mayor Kevlar Johnson, courtesy of AJ Bioport at CBS 58 Milwaukee.

Dan, if you're not from Wisconsin, a lot of people just don't understand what the mayor said.

And he's absolutely right about that.

I'm coming to you live from my basement office right now So, you know proof positive of what exactly the mayor is saying there.

Yeah, he's absolutely right, you know You know people people live in their basements and you're not gonna see all of the damage from the from the curb with I know a lot of people bringing stuff out and damaged material and furniture and whatever it might be so I you know, I saw one County official

uh, last week likened the amount of damage that Milwaukee had seen to experiencing a hurricane.

Like it's flooding like this just

is,

is so damaging to so many different parts of the city.

You know, there's, this is a city built on three rivers.

So there are many valleys that people live in close to those rivers.

Uh, and, you know, just inevitable, inevitably you're going to get a lot of damage and just like we've, we're getting more and more rainfall, uh, in and around the Milwaukee area, uh, through climate change.

And I think most of the.

the wettest years in recorded history in Milwaukee have come within the last decade.

So it's something that we need to make sure our infrastructure is prepared for in the long term and that we have people there to help out when these disasters do strike.

Thoughts, prayers, positive vibes, all of that to all the great folks of Southeast Wisconsin, the greater Milwaukee areas.

They continue.

We're really happy to see that the congressional delegation finally got their act together and sent a joint letter.

I know even Brian Stile, Republicans, a congressman signed on with Democratic Congresswoman Glenn Moore and U.S.

Senator Tammy Baldwin.

And I think they eventually all signed the letter.

We had Governor Tony Evers, Democratic governor.

Everybody's trying to do their part.

And I'm glad to see FEMA's there.

And I know you'll continue to follow it at the Reconpopulation Area as well as we will.

here at Civic Media.

Let's get into our Reconpopulation Area.

The story the most recently wrote, Dan, the headline is a too early breakdown of the 2026 race for Wisconsin governor.

It's just under a year from the primary.

We're not even quite a year to the general, but already Wisconsin's ground zero for political talk.

always is right there's that there's no shortage of political news in in our fair state here and you know I think with with Governor Evers announcing that he would not be seeking a third term with you know some of the early you know Sarah Rodriguez announcing early some of the other folks you know like Kelle DeRoy's making some news on the Todd Alba show what was it last week now we

were forced and it wasn't playing I didn't know people you set it up no we we actually thought she was gonna join us from her office up the street at the Capitol and she showed up over

Roy's happy with it.

Look, when anybody shows up for our show, we're happy.

I get the cleaning people on here, whatever.

But no, we were very, very happy when Senator Royce was here.

And yeah, she made some news that was nice.

Made some news.

Yeah.

So I wrote a little bit about, you know, just the, and I had put out a call before I went on vacation earlier this month.

I put out a call for questions for a summer mailbag and all of the questions were about this same topic.

So I figured out, well, you know, might as well just dive in and give my too early breakdown of where things are, both on the Democratic side and on the Republican side.

Follow Dan at on Twitter ex at Dan are Schaefer sh a f er.

He's got a poll going on right now This is really interesting Dan.

You said who would vote for a who would you vote for in Democratic primary for governor in, Wisconsin?

What a little over an hour left.

Are you surprised by the results?

A little bit.

Yeah, you know, so I identified in my piece that I thought there was kind of a big four with the potential and you know likely Democratic candidates that for being Attorney General Josh Call, Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and State Senator Calderoyce.

So I put those four in the poll today.

Because they say they want us to do teases now.

So here's the tea

Stay

tuned on the other side will tell you who is leading in Dan Schaefer's poll the results may surprise you Don't go anywhere.

It's Schaefer.

It's Zombers.

It's all ball and you and it's the top all balls show on the civic media ready Network

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,

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I'll tell you exactly how I went and where right now though on some of our stations across the civic media radio network the cubbies have scored one on the crew it is two to one Going into I believe the fifth It went to commercial right before I could look at it But anyway the the brew crew is still up two to one on the cubs were joined right now for some recombobulation Time the founder of the editor of the recombobulation area and also the political editor of civic media Dan Schaefer joins us from his yes

basement office in Milwaukee.

That is a thing in the Midwest, folks.

Dan, right before we went to break you this great piece in the Reconbobulation area, please subscribe, folks, go to www.thereconbobulationarea.news.

Headline, a too early breakdown of the 2026 race for governor in Wisconsin.

You have a new poll on Twitter, ending soon, where you put Josh Call, Sarah Rodriguez, David Crowley, and Kelder Royce.

Do tell, Dan Shaffer.

Some interesting results here from this very unscientific Twitter poll that we've put up this afternoon So as I identified in the column, I think there is kind of a big four for potential Democratic candidates in this primary There are others that were monitoring others who will be part of this but you know just from the outset this too early breakdown That's what I identified.

So of those four drumroll, please Sarah Rodriguez leading the field there with 30s about 36

6%, Josh Call at about 30%, David Crowley at about 23%, and Kelda Roy's at about 11% from that big four.

So what do you make of that, Mr. Alba?

I find

it very, very interesting, because you have a large social media following.

You have what?

How many followers do you have on Twitter?

I don't have it in front of me, because I took a screenshot of it.

But you have a lot of followers on Twitter.

Over 35,000.

35,000.

And not saying that all of them are Wisconsin, I would say yes or no.

Most of them are more on the Democratic side than the Republican side.

So a sample of, you know, a potential universe of 35,000, leans more Democrat than Republican.

Josh Call, everybody thought was going to be, you know, the attorney general would be the star.

He's coming in second to Sara Rodriguez, the current lieutenant governor, David Crawley, the county executive of Milwaukee County.

And then you got Calderoy State Senator in Madison.

I think it speaks.

You said it, look, it's unscientific, it's more just kind of fun, but I don't, I wouldn't dismiss it because of your following, Dan.

I mean, Lieutenant Gover's but our show, she's put on Jane McNair's show.

I think she really has an ability to connect with people.

And Trigvie Olson, who ran a lot, has run a lot of big races, including John McCain's for president.

He was enormously impressed when he met her for the first time at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last year and he looked at me afterwards he goes she's got it

She's really got it if she wants to go somewhere.

And I realized that she doesn't have as much political experience as some people, but I think she has the background as a nurse and someone who has connections to both urban and rural parts of the state.

Her husband happens to be Latino.

She really connects to a lot of diversity across the state, and she comes across as an amazingly normal non-politician to me, Dan.

Yeah, and I will add to that too.

I agreed on all fronts.

I will add to that as well that she, you know, I attended a lot of campaign events last week.

For those of you watching in the live stream, I've got a bunch of my credentials up hanging behind me in my office.

Many of those are from last year.

I don't think I could ever hear the song Freedom by Beyonce ever again without getting press pit flashbacks from being at all these events last year.

But I will say that, like, you know, as part of this, like, of course, you have kind of the head.

whether it's Kamala Harris or Tim Walls or whoever is doing the campaigning.

But you have kind of the undercard coming up before the headliner.

And going up from that, you had Tony Evers was there sometimes.

Sometimes it was Tammy Baldwin.

And Sara Rodriguez became a regular part of that rotation.

And I thought she kept getting better and better throughout the year in those types of settings, too.

She had good command of the room.

She's got a sense of humor.

I think that came across in her announcement video, too.

But you also mentioned it as well, is that she has not been in politics for that long.

The seat that she flipped was in the 2020 election.

Before that, she was in the private sector, in the healthcare field, and working as a nurse.

So flipping a seat, an assembly seat in 2020 to becoming a Lieutenant Governor in 2022 to running for Governor in for 2026, that's a pretty quick rise.

And so you wonder if she has the same

level of experiences.

Some of the other folks, you know, obviously Josh Call is in his second full term as attorney general, just as one example there.

But, you know, I think it's been a quick ascent for her, but she also, you know, like you said, she's got some real political skills.

And I think the fact that she is the first out of the gate candidate here, you know, her message is at least resonating with some folks at least.

Yeah, and I'm not comparing her directly to this person, but think about it.

Barack Obama went from a state senator in Illinois to the president of the United States of what five years?

I mean it was just crazy.

Something

like that.

Something like

that.

You know just like in sports we probably shouldn't be comparing anyone to Aaron Rodgers.

Maybe we don't compare anybody to Barack Obama.

By just meeting in today's world I think that social media and these new platforms I think it can speed up the name ID and everything else and I think that it doesn't take as long to get known today as it did 20 years ago.

I agree with you there.

Yeah, for sure.

And I think, you know, the name ID, I think because this list to skews really

Heavy in Milwaukee and Madison of the initial candidates.

I'm gonna be really interested to see how that name ID Shows up once Marquette does its polling and other folks as well how that shows up in places like the Green Bay like Green Bay in the Fox Valley like Western, Wisconsin like some of these swingier areas of the state where you have you know some of the candidates that we talked about Keldor Roy's in a deep blue district Francesca Hong's in a deep blue district.

I was gonna say is she gonna get in or not?

David Crowley's in Milwaukee, you know like I think there are a lot of candidates that are representing very blue areas

areas of the state.

And so it's going to be interesting to see how that message resonates in areas beyond.

Does Francesca Hong get in or

not?

I think so.

I think there's a real chance.

Well, you called

her the ultimate wild card in your piece.

You can read all about it, folks, at www.therecobobulationarea.news.

Don't be the person that doesn't know what's going on.

Subscribe to the Recobobulation Area today.

Dan Schaefer, thank you very much.

It's always a pleasure, my friend.

Thanks for having me, Todd.

Be well.

You as well.

Dan J for everybody.

Come on back.

Hour two.

What's worse?

Thirst or hunger?

Way in.

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